Lamentations 1

English EASY 2024

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1Look! The city at one time was full of people. But now it is completely alone. She was a famous city among the nations of the world. But now she is alone, like a widow. She ruled other countries like a queen. But now she has become a slave.

2She weeps aloud in the night. There are tears on her face. She had many lovers. But now there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have turned away from her. They have become her enemies.

3Judah's enemies have taken her people away as prisoners. The people suffer as slaves of cruel enemies. Judah's people live among foreign nations. They have nowhere to rest safely. Their enemies chased them and they caught them. Judah's people could not escape.

4The roads to Zion are sad places now. Nobody travels along them to come to the festivals. No people meet at the city gates. The priests are sad. The young women weep. The people of Zion are very upset.

5Jerusalem's enemies now rule her people. They live an easy life. The Lord has caused Jerusalem to suffer because of the many sins of her people. Enemies have taken her children away as their prisoners.

6Zion is not a beautiful city any more. Her leaders are like deer that can find no food to eat. They are too weak to escape from the people who are chasing them.

7Jerusalem's people are suffering and they have no homes to live in. So they remember how great their city was, and the valuable things that they had long ago. When their enemies took the city for themselves, nobody came to help them. Jerusalem's enemies laughed while they destroyed the city.

8Jerusalem's sins are very bad. That is why it has become an unclean place. At one time, people gave her honour. But now they do not respect her. They have seen her great shame. Jerusalem's people are upset. They hide their faces because they are ashamed.

9Everyone can see that Jerusalem has become an unclean place. The people did not think about their sins. They did not worry about what would happen. But a terrible thing happened when enemies destroyed their city. There was nobody who could comfort them. They called to God for help, ‘ Lord, see our trouble! Our enemies are boasting that they have won against us!’

10Enemies have taken all Jerusalem's valuable things for themselves. Her people watched as foreigners went into the holy temple. But the Lord himself had said, ‘Foreign people must not go into that special place.’

11All Jerusalem's people cry as they look for a bit of food to eat. They have to sell their valuable things to buy enough food to keep them alive. The people say, ‘ Lord, look at us! Nobody respects us!’

12They say to those who go past the city, ‘Will you do nothing to help us? Look at us! See that we are suffering very much. The Lord has caused us to suffer because he is very angry with us.

13He has sent down fire from above to hurt us. It has destroyed our strength. He has prepared a trap to catch our feet, so that we have to turn back. He has left us weak and alone. We have pain all day, every day.

14Our sins seem to be like a yoke around our necks. The Lord himself has tied that heavy load on us. We were strong, but he has caused us to become weak. He has put us under the power of our enemies. We can do nothing to stop them.

15The Lord God has removed all the strong fighters who were ready to fight for us. He brought a big army to fight against us, and to destroy our young men. The Lord God has stamped on us, the people of Judah, like people stamp on grapes to make wine.

16We weep because these things have happened to us. Tears pour out of our eyes. There is nobody here who can comfort us. Nobody can make us strong and brave. Our enemies have won against us, so our children have no hope.’

17Zion's people call out for help, but there is nobody to comfort them. The Lord has decided to punish Jacob's descendants. The nations around Judah have become her enemies. Jerusalem has become like a heap of dirty rubbish among the other nations.

18‘The Lord is right to punish us! We have refused to obey his commands. Listen to us, all you nations. See how much we are suffering. Enemies have taken away our young women and our young men as their prisoners.

19We called to our lovers to help us. But they refused to help us. Our priests and our leaders died in the city's streets. They were looking for food to keep themselves alive.

20Lord, see how much we are suffering! We are very upset. We have turned against you and now we are sad deep inside ourselves. In the streets, our enemies attack us and they kill us. In our homes, there is also death.

21People have heard that we are crying, but nobody comes to comfort us. Our enemies know about our great trouble. They are happy to see that you have punished us. Please now make our enemies suffer as we have suffered. You have promised to do that. Please do it soon!

22Remember all the wicked things that they have done. Punish them as you have punished us for all our sins. Now we are very sad and we cry a lot. We have no hope.’

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